Full catalog/SMODE_L2_SHIPBOARD_UCTD_ECOCTD_V1
SMODE_L2_SHIPBOARD_UCTD_ECOCTD_V1·v1·dataset

Ship-measured ocean temperature and saltiness by depth

S-MODE Shipboard uCTD and EcoCTD Measurements Version 1
ocean NASA POCLOUD Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Ocean temperature and saltiness at different depths measured from a moving ship, plus extra readings like dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll (a sign of plant life), and how much the water scatters light. Values are organized onto a tidy 5-meter depth grid.

How it's made. Collected by sensors towed and dropped from research ships during the S-MODE field campaign off San Francisco in 2021-2023, then combined and binned into a single dataset.

How & where you'd use it. Helping scientists understand how small-scale ocean motions move physical and biological material up and down through the water.

What's measured

OCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITYOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › FLUORESCENCEOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › SCATTERINGOCEANS › OCEAN CHEMISTRY › OXYGENOCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › CONDUCTIVITYOCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › OCEAN TEMPERATURE PROFILESOCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › SALINITYOCEANS › SALINITY/DENSITY › OCEAN SALINITY › OCEAN SALINITY PROFILES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2021-08-01 → 2023-05-31
  • Measured byShips (CTD)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-125.4, 36.3, -122.9, 38.1
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

This dataset contains shipboard Underway conductivity, temperature, and depth (UCDT) measurements taken during the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) field campaign. The experiment was conducted approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco, during a pilot campaign that spanned two weeks in October 2021, and two intensive operating periods in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. S-MODE aims to understand how ocean dynamics acting on short spatial scales influence the vertical exchange of physical and biological variables in the ocean. The Underway CTD system contains a standard UCDT probe measuring conductivity, temperature, and pressure, as well as an augmented EcoCDT probe that concurrently measures both hydrographic and bio-optical data including conductivity, temperature, pressure, dissolved oxygen concentration, chlorophyll-fluorescence, and particulate backscatter at two different wavelengths. The level 2 data herein combines measurements from both the UCDT and EcoCDT into a single dataset, where for each variable, all profiles are binned onto a 5m vertical grid and merged into a 2-D matrix. Additional computed variables include backscatter baseline signal and backscatter spike signal. Data are available in netCDF format.

Get the data

smode_l2_shipboard_uctd_ecoctd_v1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SMODE_L2_SHIPBOARD_UCTD_ECOCTD_V1",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.